That was a tough game... It was tougher than I expected, that's for sure. But I'm not worried about that.

The Falcons defense is designed to compete against the best passing QBs in the league. Opposing QB's have a 69 passer rating against us. We've held some of the league's best in check, if not frustrated the hell out of them.

The defense is going to struggle vs run heavy teams, and teams with non-traditional QBs. RG3 is going to give us problems. That's fine. RG3 isn't going to be in the playoffs, and neither is Cammy cam cam. Michael Vick might get there... Even so, we're playing all of these guys in the regular season, which gives us plenty of opportunity to learn, and game plan to help beat them in the post-season.

But the most important thing that I took away from the Panthers game... Our defense doesn't quit, and neither does our QB. This was a tough game, and they fought through it and won.

I don't know if worried is the right word, as much as concerned. Why worry about a game that we won. Earlier in the week, I suspected that the Panthers could play us tough, but as the week progressed it seemed like the Falcons were too good and the Panthers too mediocre to really give us problems.

But there are some symptoms in this game that are a bit concerning.

For as potent an offense as we're supposed to have, we struggled in the redzone in this game. The past 2 games, we were 7 of 9 in scoring TDs on redzone trips (78%), and were 4 of 7 in Week 1 (57%). This past week, we were 1 of 4. Now we hit a FG on 2 of those missed trips, so we're still getting points the overwhelming majority of the time. But the INT and the sacks given up in the redzone really hurt us on Sunday.

Our offense just wasn't able to move the ball as much as it should have been IMO. The most positive development is the fact that the big play finally arrived in our offense with 4 plays of 30+ yards. It'll be interesting to see if that continues to develop the rest of the year, or if it was just a one-game aberration where we took advantage of a weak/undisciplined defense/secondary.

It all gets swept under the rug if the Falcons go up to Washington this week and soundly beat the Redskins. It's not to suggest that the Falcons should win every game by a huge margin, but you'd like to see this team control more of the game against these lesser opponents. It shouldn't be as much of a 50/50 split as it has been vs. Carolina and Denver, especially.

In both home games this year, there were IMO too many big chunks of those games where our opponent was in control of the game. If that Denver game is 3 minutes longer, we might lose that game. And this Panther game, 3 critical mistakes in the final 90 seconds really lost them the game, moreso than us winning the game.

Again, not to say they need to coast over every opponent, but I expect a little more especially since we're at home. Especially given that this season is setting up really well that we might have homefield in the playoffs. We have yet to see the "normal" Falcon team that looks unbeatable at home, rather this team looks very very beatable so far in the Georgia Dome.

I certainly acknowledge that there were issues. 7 sacks in unforgivable. The pick that Ryan threw in the end-zone took points off the board. The defense had no answer for Cammy cam cam. I realize these issues. But we're 1/4 of the way through the season, and despite the mediocre to horrible offensive line play, our team looks like a team that can go deep in the playoffs.

Yes, I would agree that this team over any others through this small sample size looks like the most playoff-ready team that Mike Smith has fielded.

But as I said in another thread, this season is entirely about how well this team fares in January. And if this team cannot get pressure on QBs, can't run the ball effectively against quality opponents, and gets beat in the trenches, I can't say I'm that much more confident that this year's team is going to be any more successful than any of the past 4 years teams when it comes to playoff success.

Those are fatal flaws for this team. So the thing to watch over the next 12 games is to see whether or not this team improves in those areas, or improves enough in other areas to overcome those issues.

And right now, I'm leaning towards the passing game having to pick up the slack because those 3 flaws IMHO probably aren't going to go away because those were many of the flaws that we were talking about this off-season as being problems.

And thus the fact that Julio Jones has been a non-factor in 50% of our games so far to me is a bit concerning.

I'm counting out Julio's game from Week 4 because every time he was getting a pass, Ryan got sacked. I'm not concerned about Julio, it was just unfortunate what happened to him in Week 4. Week 2 I'll count though.

I just think this team's ability to go further in 2012 than they ever have is highly dependent on their ability to get Julio Jones going.

If they have to continue to rely on Roddy & Tony and the short passing game, then this team is essentially no better offensively than it has been the past 4 years, and thus your entire hopes is that Matt Ryan is perfect behind an imperfect O-line.

Julio Jones is this team's only long-ball threat. Roddy is largely an intermediate threat, same for Tony and Harry. Roddy can go deep as we've seen over the last 5 years, but that's not the thing he does best. Defenses aren't going to change the way they play the Falcons based off their fear of Roddy taking the top off the defense. But they will for Julio.

They can't have games where Julio is held catchless through 52 minutes of the game. That is UNACCEPTABLE. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, Julio's, Matt's, the O-line's, Dirk's, whomever it is that is Unacceptable.

And it's going against Josh Norman of all people. What is going to happen in January when it's Corey Webster, or Nnamdi Asomugha, or Patrick Peterson?

Matt Ryan had a 3.1 passer rating when he threw the ball to Julio Jones on Sunday. If you want to give him a pass for this week, then so be it. But that essentially should NEVER EVER happen again for the rest of time.

I'm counting out Julio's game from Week 4 because every time he was getting a pass, Ryan got sacked. I'm not concerned about Julio, it was just unfortunate what happened to him in Week 4. Week 2 I'll count though.

Sure, I'm a Christian. But I'm a sports fan as well. So I must say that I absolutely LOVE that sig .

I think it's mainly because we rarely get to see Matt Ryan that fiery because of the conservative nature he shows in the media. But that quote is awesome.

Before that game I was thinking that the ball was rolling just a little too well for us as a team and we were due for a thorough butt-kicking, not just a loss. I didn't want us to be last year's Packers. The Panthers beat us thoroughly.

This game was good for us. But as time was winding down, I was thinking that good teams find a way to win those types of games, i.e. the Patriots on Sunday. The fact that we pulled this game out says a lot about the new culture of this team.

Confess Jesus- Thanks bud, it will stay for a while with the team playing like that. I'm not much a swearer anymore these days either but it was really cool seeing Ryan yell. Roddy's quote was awesome and couldn't be more true.

Pudge- I agree about Julio not getting the ball being unacceptable. It's only one game, I can't wait till he has over 100 yards this weekend. You judge pretty quickly after one game, let's relax and wait. You seem to be more heated about Julio than Clabo. Also for a guru such as yourself, I'm shocked you bring up cornerbacks like Namdi and Webster, who have been burnt on a consistent basis this year.

It's only one game, I can't wait till he has over 100 yards this weekend. You judge pretty quickly after one game, let's relax and wait.

You're reading too much into my statement about Julio. I'm not giving up on him. I'm just saying the situation (whatever the cause) is an unacceptable situation. And if it continues, then it's going to cause problems down the road.

I have to agree with Pudge on the Julio matter. This may have just been a bad game but come January and hopefully the Falcon's make the playoffs good defenses find a way to to take away weapons on offense. The more weapons the Falcon's can develop over the season the harder it will be to stop the offense down the road. JJ needs to get it going which it will make the offense that much more problematic for defenses to contain.

_________________Sometimes running the Mularkey offense makes me feel like I'm in a prison.

Well, Pudge and theScout, I will again point out that I think that part of the problem with Julio is his hand injury. I believe that he's mostly being used as a decoy at this point, and that is working.

But beyond that, I have looked back over the past 4 games, and we seem to feature different players every game. That might well be the plan. We are showing teams that we have many different ways to beat them. We're showing them that they're going to have to pick their poison.

In game 1, it was Jones and White.In game 2, it was Gonzalez and White.In game 3, it was Gonzalez, Turner, and Jones.In game 4, it was White and Turner.

We have shown that Jones, Turner, White, and Gonzo are all players that you have to account for, or we will beat you with them.

I guarantee you that defensive coordinators around the league are looking at our team right now and asking themselves, how in the world can we stop this machine? We can put 7-8 in the box to stop Turner, but that will leave the middle of the field open for Gonzalez. We can beef up the middle and leave our CB's on an island, but White and/or Jones will eat them up. We can play cover 2, but Turner is going to gash us up the middle.

There are very few defenses out there that can outright stop our offense. We've already torn up some pretty good defenses.

The thing that does worry me is the 7 sacks and constant pressure. We all knew that something had to give with our OL. Perhaps the Panthers just match up very well against our guys. Perhaps we did a poor job of scheming to protect against their under-sized linemen. We obviously owned them in the run game.

8 targets and 1 completion is not a good average but I'm not worried about JJ in the least. How many times have I heard you say, Pudge, that WRs have to be given time to find their way in this league? The guy they drafted out of UGA in CINN (senior moment) has probably been across the board a bit quicker study than JJ but both have stepped in and assimilated pretty quickly. How soon we forget Roddy's first couple of years....or even JJ's first game of this season. The team has a good many problems but Julio ain't one of them. Did they say he tore the webbing between his forefinger and thumb. Ok...that makes my hand hurt.

Did they say he tore the webbing between his forefinger and thumb. Ok...that makes my hand hurt.

I believe they did in fact say that. Which Im wondering if the reduced play by Julio this past weekend was due to his injury + good/double coverage by the Panthers..

I know it's useless to play the 'what if' game but had Julio missed that last big catch on the drive late in the 4th qtr, followed by that incompletion that happened when he was a little out of position and got forced out a couple plays later? Then today were all talking about how he had a terrible game, and Td is a freekin idoit.. In the end, he did not have a terrible game because he did make that 30 yd catch on 3rd and ten to bail us out.

I can discount a hand issue, but if JJ gets injured one more time this season, then the 'value' of all those draft picks is going to come roaring back...

Let me reiterate, I'm not saying Julio played terribly. There were several missed opportunities in this game. I'm not blaming Julio. I'm not blaming TD. I'm not blaming Ryan. I'm not blaming Dirk Koetter. I'm not even blaming the O-line.

Maybe it was the hand. If that's the reason, then fine, and down the road hopefully it heals and the problem goes away.

But my point is that come January if this continues to occur, this offense is going to be in trouble. You can't win in January when your offense isn't operating at peak efficiency, or at least it's extremely hard to win. Especially for this team when our defense is solid to good but not great. On their own, they aren't going to stop the best teams in the league, like they are likely to see come January.

RobertAP wrote:

In game 1, it was Jones and White.In game 2, it was Gonzalez and White.In game 3, it was Gonzalez, Turner, and Jones.In game 4, it was White and Turner.

I think over the years you've consistently overrated our offensive prowess and how difficult it is to match up with the Falcons. And I think you're probably doing it again this year.

Because if it's so easy to take Julio out of a game (remember he was a non-factor vs. DEN sans injury), then this offense isn't all that challenging. Sure, for the Chiefs who have no pass rush, it's a challenge. For SD, a slightly above average defense, it's difficult. For Carolina, who have one of the league's worst run defenses, it's difficult.

Come January, when the Falcons play the 49ers, Bears, or Eagles, Turner is not going to be a factor in that game.

You think this team is going to be able to beat those teams by throwing 10-15 yard passes to Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White every down? Why do you believe that is going to work better this year than it has the past 4 years, when we've played with that same offense? It seems simple now because Matt Ryan is playing at an MVP level. But down the road, that may not be the case. Down the road, Gonzo may be nicked up or Roddy may be nicked up.

If/when we play teams in January like SF, CHI, PHI, NYG, among others that can put pressure on the QB with just 4 guys and drop 7 into coverage, then I don't think Roddy White and Tony are going to be able to beat that. I don't think anybody in this league can beat that.

I'm not writing off anyone. I'm not smart enough to figure how to fix it. Hopefully the people in Flowery Branch are. But if you think this team can afford to go into January and have Julio Jones be hit and miss in regards to his ability to impact a game (as he has been this first month of the season), and win a playoff game, then I think you're sorely mistaken.

I know people are going to read this post and think I'm shitting on the offense, Julio, etc. I'm not. I've been saying the past few days that I think this team's O-line can't really block anyone, they won't be able to run the ball vs. good teams, they can't rush the QB, and thus their defense won't be able to stop anyone. They can contain offenses, but they won't stop them. And thus come January, those are normally fatal issues for a football team, when the level of play accelerates to a new level. If you don't believe me, just go back and watch last year's team, where these EXACT SAME issues plagued the team. Even if there is some improvement in all of those areas, then what does that mean? We lose to the Giants 24-12 instead of 24-2?

And thus IMO the difference that needs to occur from this year's team, and last year's team has to be their passing attack has to go to a brand new level. That requires Julio Jones to play at a high level. And we need to see that occur on a consistent basis during the regular season. Does he need to catch 8 catches for 120 yards and 2 TDs every week? No. But he can't be held to 14 yards or just 1 catch in 8 targets? That's unacceptable given where this team's eventual goals lie.

And if we can't get him going during the regular season, and whether he has a good game is hit and miss against teams like Carolina, etc. then why should we think he'll be able to be that guy when we're playing the 49ers, Giants, etc.?

And maybe all of this "concern" goes away next week. I hope so. But come Week 18 Robert, the guys that are featured MUST be Roddy, Tony, and Julio. Otherwise, they'll be watching the Week 19 games from the comfort of their couches.

Well, we can go back and forth all day on this. I don't think that this is as much of a problem as you make it out to be, and you don't think that our players are as good as I think that they are. I'll remind you that I thought that the problem last year was our scheme, not our personnel.

This year, our scheme has changed, and the offensive production is up, considerably. Matt Ryan looking like an MVP isn't simply because he's bulked up a little. I'm sure that contributes, but the overwhelming difference is the change to the play calling. We've had 3 screens go for TD's this year. We couldn't even run a screen with Mularkey. Ryan has been the focal point of our offense, as he should have been for the past couple of years.

I'm sure that you see that there's a difference this year. I think we agree on that. I think that we disagree a bit on how much of a difference there is.

Another thing we agree on... The OL is a patchwork mess. I doubt that Ryan can continue to perform at an MVP level if he continues to take the kinds of hits that he took on Sunday. We still have some time to do something about this. The question is, does the staff recognize this as a personnel issue, and are they willing to do something about it?

Another thing we agree on... The OL is a patchwork mess. I doubt that Ryan can continue to perform at an MVP level if he continues to take the kinds of hits that he took on Sunday. We still have some time to do something about this. The question is, does the staff recognize this as a personnel issue, and are they willing to do something about it?

the question here is 'what can we do'?

Clabo is injured and stinks. We put in our Johnson in his place, and thier Johnson was simply much bigger.

Another thing we agree on... The OL is a patchwork mess. I doubt that Ryan can continue to perform at an MVP level if he continues to take the kinds of hits that he took on Sunday. We still have some time to do something about this. The question is, does the staff recognize this as a personnel issue, and are they willing to do something about it?

the question here is 'what can we do'?

Clabo is injured and stinks. We put in our Johnson in his place, and thier Johnson was simply much bigger.

So I dont really see a solution here....

Agreed Fun Gus. The line won't get fixed till we draft or sign some quality free agents.Will just have to make due with what we have in terms of players on the roster.

_________________Sometimes running the Mularkey offense makes me feel like I'm in a prison.

I'm sure that you see that there's a difference this year. I think we agree on that. I think that we disagree a bit on how much of a difference there is.

As I've stated before, I think this season's success boils entirely to how the Falcons perform in the postseason. They could easily win 12 or 13 games in the regular season, but if they have zero playoff wins, then it is really a wasted year. Not a complete waste, but they are going to have to approach the 2013 off-season with a mindset of dramatically revamping their roster. Not a true rebuild, but a major "reload."

I do think they have improved. But I also believe that the postseason and regular season are completely separate animals. The Falcons have shown that they are regular season champs, but postseason chumps. And

And I need to see as the rest of the reg. season plays out, strong indicators that this is better prepared. And IMHO one of those indicators is how well Julio Jones plays.

As discussed before, there will be two formulas to beating this team the rest of this season: 1) Teams that can run the ball and control the LOS on both sides of the ball. 2) Teams that are comfortable getting into shootouts with us, and can rush the QB.

San Fran, Chicago, Seattle is one of the former teams, Philly, GB and NYG are two of the latter teams, to name a few of the prospective NFC playoff teams.

The way the Falcons will beat those teams is if all of the Triplets (Julio, Roddy, & Gonzo) are playing at a relatively high level. They don't need all 3 to put up 120-yard games, but just be contributing to the team's ability to win. And you look at the pair of games where that did happen: KC & SD, weren't against playoff-caliber defenses, because neither of those two teams were able to put pressure on our QB. That's not going to be the case if/when we play SF and Justin Smith and Aldon Smith are lining up across us, or NYG when we have to try and deal with Osi, Tuck, and JPP or Philly when it's the law firm of Cole, Jenkins, Cox, and Babin.

A team like SF doesn't need its offense firing on all cylinders because they have a defense that is going to hold even quality opponents to 14 or 17 points. Their offense really only has to score 17 or 20 points, and they can win games. So they can get away with Alex Smith, etc. not playing at a high level.

This Falcon D isn't built to do that. They're going to have to win games against quality opponents 28-24 or 30-27. Now maybe this group improves as the season unfolds and we get closer to that point. But I doubt it with our mediocre pass rush, that is probably not going to improve. Not unless Dunta Robinson really starts to live up to his contract and become one of the top No. 2 CBs in the league a la Tramon Williams in 2010.

So the Falcons are going to have to be able to put up a lot of points. And against the defenses we're likely to see in the playoffs, it's going to be a lot harder than it has been these first 4 weeks. When you look at a defense that is closest to what we may see in January, you see the Broncos.

And despite the win and the strong play of Matt Ryan, the offense did not particularly have a great game that week. Ten of the 27 points we scored were basically gifted by Broncos turnovers in their own territory. Do you think Eli Manning is going to throw 4 first quarter INTs because he doesn't have a strong arm? The Falcons only converted 38% of their third downs that game (tied with the CAR game for our lowest this season), and averaged 4.2 yards per play in that game. In the 3 other games, they've averaged a combined 6.3 yards per play.

So that you can understand those numbers in context, the Giants currently are averaging 6.3 yards per play this year, good enough for 3rd best in the league. The Cardinals on the other hand, are averaging 4.3 yards per play, good enough for dead last in the NFL.

And so if you get into a situation in the playoffs like it was with DEN, where your offense is just Roddy, just Tony, no Julio, and it's going up against one of those quality playoff defenses, then what's likely to happen is that like 3 out of the last 4 years, this team is going to be outclassed in January.

fun gus wrote:

RobertAP wrote:

Another thing we agree on... The OL is a patchwork mess. I doubt that Ryan can continue to perform at an MVP level if he continues to take the kinds of hits that he took on Sunday. We still have some time to do something about this. The question is, does the staff recognize this as a personnel issue, and are they willing to do something about it?

the question here is 'what can we do'?

Clabo is injured and stinks. We put in our Johnson in his place, and thier Johnson was simply much bigger.

So I dont really see a solution here....

I think the O-line is what it is. Frankly, barring this past week's game, as a whole IMO this O-line is overachieving. I don't think you can ask for or really expect them to do more. Thus why I think you have to make up for it in other areas, thus why you need Julio Jones to play better than he has in some of these games.

If I was to propose a theory, it would be this: When Matt Ryan feels pressured, he stops looking at Julio. And he starts to hone in on the guys he trusts, which of course are Tony and Roddy, because he knows these guys will get open quickly and will move the chains. Not to mention, from what I've seen on the All-22, a larger percentage of Julio Jones' routes are vertical, longer-developing ones.

How do you fix that? Do you change the routes Julio is running? Do you just cross your fingers and hope that by Week 17, Matt and Julio's rapport is much, much stronger? Does Dirk Koetter devote a chunk of his gameplan and play-calling specifically to try and get Julio the ball in other ways such as screens, end-arounds, quick slants, reverses, etc.?

I don't know. But it's one of those things that we need to monitor the rest of the season particularly when we get into the meat of the schedule post-bye.

The other thing was the crazy amount of throws to our RB's last game. Sure, a bunch was Matt almost getting sacked and getting the ball out, but alot were planned. Turner dropped like 2 or 3..But made more then I ever saw his whole time here. It's almost like Koetter knew everyone else in the league thought 'this guy cant catch a cold' and DK was trying to explot that. Me likey

Julio Jones is this team's only long-ball threat. Roddy is largely an intermediate threat, same for Tony and Harry. Roddy can go deep as we've seen over the last 5 years, but that's not the thing he does best

I agree going deep is not what Roddy does best, but I think Tony G has taught him a lot. Tony beats linebackers not because of his speed but his hands and his strength.

I think Roddy even thinks he can make the Hall of Fame now because he sees he canbeat most corners because of his strength and his hands seemed to have improved at least this far in the season.

If the Falcons start getting national attention Roddy just can't be overlooked. He has gone up and got the ball 10 yards; 20 yards; and 40 yards because he just wants it more now.

I think he can keep beating corners with his strength for another 5 years......SoonRoddy's consecutive 1000 receiving yards years will start getting attention if we win a Championship or a Super Bowl in the next 5 years....

I think he's watching Tony and thinking I can do this a lot longer if I don't get hurt.

I do think they have improved. But I also believe that the postseason and regular season are completely separate animals. The Falcons have shown that they are regular season champs, but postseason chumps.

I know a lot of people think this but except when we were 13-3 I've never loved ourconsistency during the season, and never really expected to win a post season game until now.

Now having made the playoffs 3 times and losing three times there's just the pressure of finally breaking threw but I'm not convinced we were good enough to win a playoff game even though we got in; until now.

I think with Roddy's great start teams will plan to start stopping him and I think Julio's natural talent will have him start having some great games. Teams can stop Roddy or Julio but not both unless we start consistently start getting Ryan killed back there!!

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